Inverted plunger type power pump



Oct. 1, 1957 A. J. KEUFFEL INVERTED PLUNGER TYPE POWER PUMP Filed Sept. 11, 1953 ma ma IN VEN TOR.

AUGUST CT. KEUFFEL' FIG.

ung

FlG.l

United States Patent INVERTED PLUNGER TYPE POWER PUMP August J. Keulfel, Summit, N. J., assignor to Worthington Corporation, Harrison, N. J., a corporation of Delaware Application September 11, 1953, Serial No. 379,705 6 Claims. or. 103-170 This'invention relates generally to reciprocating pumps and more particularly to an improved inverted plunger type power pump. v

It has always been a major problem in the design of this inverted plunger type reciprocating power pump to find a favorable location for the side rods. In the power end of the pump where the crosshead is slidably mounted, the side rods should be disposed as close as possbile to the axis of the crosshead in order to keep the crosshead diameter to a minimum and hence the width of the frame, relatively small. Conversely, in the liquid end of the pump, the side rod holes should be spread or disposed as far apart as possible in order not "to interfere with the valve holes, and suction and discharge passages in communication with the plunger cylinder or chamber.

The larger the plunger diameter and the higher the pumping speeds the greater the difficulty to overcome and compromise the discrepancy between these conditions.

In the prior designs of crosshead units, it has been customary to use a crosshead unit made from a single casting. This required that provision for a sufficiently large opening be made in the'power end with a removable cover so that the one piece crosshead unit could be installed and removed from the power end of the pump.

The present invention overcomes this problem by providing a two-piece crosshead which lendsitself readily to the positioning of the side rod holes to any desired spacing or angle.

This construction allows the side rods to be positioned so that the larger plunger sizes can be used without sacrificing and in many instances functioning at increased pumping speeds with the same size liquid block and frame heretofore used. This construction also provides additional advantages as for example: the offset suction and discharge center lines can be aligned so that the valves can be put closer to the plunger chamber which results in substantially close clearance figures; the smaller the crosshead guide diameter, the better the guiding effect (length/ diameter ratio), and the easier the machinability and hence the accuracy thereof; the two-piece crosshead lends itself readily for mounting and demounting of the moving parts thereof including connecting rods, etc., and in addition thus eliminates the requirement of the expensive removable crosshead cradle and open frame heretofore used.

With this and other objects in view, as may appear from the accompanying specification, the invention consists of various features of construction and combination of parts, which will be first described in connection with the accompanying drawings, showing an inverted plunger type power pump of a preferred form embodying the invention, and the features forming the invention will be specifically pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is an end view of a preferred form of the invention.

Figure 2 is a view taken on line 2-2 of Figure 1 which shows the two-piece crosshead.

2,803,098 Patented Oct. 1, 1957 ice Figure 3 is a top plan view of a fragment of the preferred form of the invention showing the relative positioning of the upper crossheads and the plungers.

Figure 4 is an enlarged view of one of the side rods taken on line 44 of Figure 3.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, Figure 1 shows the invention as applied to a horizontal valve type, inverted plunger type reciprocating pump generally designated 1, it being understood that while the horizontal type is used to illustrate the present invention that it is equally applicable to the inverted plunger reciprocating pump with vertical type valve construction.

Pump 1 has a power end housing or frame 2 having a liquid cylinder block 3 mounted thereon. The power end frame includes the usual crank shaft 4 having one or more connecting rods 5 connected thereto in any suitable manner well 'known in the art. The upper end of the connecting rod has the crossheads generally designated 6 connected thereto by crossheadpins 7. The crossheads crossheads during the reciprocation thereof.

T wo-piece crosshead The crosshead 6 as more clearlyshown in Figure 2 consists of two elements, the crosshead body 9 and the crosshead plate 10. The crosshead 'body 9 is the element of the crosshead 6 which reciprocates in the crosshead guide and is in direct contact with the connecting rod through the crosshead pins 7. The crosshead plate 10 is a substantially flat element formed in the shape of a rhomboidal parallelogramand is connected to the upper end of the crosshead body 9 through suitable threaded elements such as spaced bolts 11 so that its widest span is disposed at an angle to the widest span of the crosshead body, or at an angle to the axis of the crosshead guide. This positions threaded bores 12 disposed remotely from each other at either end of the widest span of the crosshead plate laterally of either side of the crosshead guide axis. Where there are more than one pair of crosshead guides as is shown in Figure 2 each of the crosshead plates will be disposed so that the axial lines of their respective widest spans are substantially parallel. The crosshead guides will of course be spaced from each other to allow for a minimum amount of clearance between the respective crosshead plates, so that they will not interfere with each other during the reciprocation of the crosshead 6 when the pump is in operation.

The width of the crosshead body 9 will depend on the The liquid block 3 includes one or more cylinders 15 having plungers 16 slidably mounted therein. The cylinders 15 communicate with pump chambers 17 having the usual suction inlets 18 and discharge outlets 19 controlled by the respective suction inlet valves 20 and discharge outlet valves 21. The suction inlets 18 and discharge outlets 19 communicate with common inlet passages 22 and common discharge passages 23 respectively, for where there is more than one pumping chamber the plungers operate successively to discharge a smooth continuous flow of pumped fluid from the pump through a discharge outlet 24 communicating with the common dis charge passage.

The plungers 16 are reciprocated in the cylinders 15 in the inverted position. Thus, the upper ends thereof are 3 connected to upper crossheads 25 through threaded elements 26 circumferentially spaced thereabouts. -All of the above is clearly shown in Figures 1 and 3 of the drawings.

The upper crossheads 25 are also substantially 'flat' elements, rhomboidal parallelograins in shape similar to that of the lower crossheads. The upper crossheads are disposed on the plunger element 16 50 that their. widest span is in substantial alignment with the lower crossheads 6, thus, as is shown in Figure 3 where there are two or more upper crossheads, these upper crossheads as in the case of the lower crossheads will have the axis of their respective widest spans in substantially parallel alignment with each other.

The upper crossheads, as in the case of the lower crossheads, are provided with bores 27 remote from each other on either end of the widest span of the upper crosshead.

These bores are connected to the respective side rods 13 and 14 as hereinafter described so that the piston will be reciprocated on movement of the crosshead 6.

Side rods tion of the power end housing or frame 2. This allows i the respective elongated side rods 13 and 14, etc. to extend therethrough and provide communication between the crosshead plate 10 and the upper crosshead so that the movement or reciprocation of .the crosshead 6 will simultaneously move and reciprocate the plunger element 16 connected to the upper crosshead 25.

The side rods 13 and 14 are indicated as elongated rods having reduced portions at either end thereof which are threaded. The lower threaded reduced portion of the side rod 13 engages the bore 12 of the crosshead plate 10 until the lower annular shoulder formed by the reduction in diameter of the lower threaded end portion of side rod 13 abuts the upper face of the crosshead plate 10. A nut 29 in threaded engagement with the threaded reduced portion will then fixedly connect the lower end of the side rod 13to the crosshead 6. Similarly, the upper threaded reduced portion of the side rod 13 engages the bore 27 of the uppercrosshead 25 until the upper annular shoulder 30 engages the lower face of the upper crosshead 25. A nut 31 in threaded engagement with the upper threaded reduced portion will fixedly connect the upper end of the side rod 13 to the upper crosshead 25. While only one side rod is illustrated in Figure 4, it is understoodthat the other side rods at their respective locations have substantially identical construction and are connected to the crosshead plate 10 and the upper crosshead 25 respectively in a similar manner.

Although in the preferred form of the present invention the crosshead plate has been illustrated as a rhomboidal parallelogram in shape, it is understood that this is merely for the purposes of description and that the crosshead plate 10 could take any shape consonant with the desired result in the present invention. Thus, for example, it could be a squared element with laterally extending ears without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Operation When the plungers 16 are moved up, the suction inlet,

4 valves 20 are opened drawing fluid in from the common suction passage 22 supplied by a source of fluid (not shown) through an inlet means 32. When they are moved down the inlet valves 20 are closed and the discharge valves 21 are open to discharge the fluid into the common discharge passage 23 and thence through the outlet 24 to use or waste as is required.

While this operation is conventional, the angular disposed relationship of the crosshead plate to the crosshead body and the similarly angularly disposed upper crossheads allows fromthe positioning of the side rod so that it does not interfere with the relative location of the side rod with respect to the suction inlets or discharge outlets and the pumping chambers of the pump.

While one form of the invention has been illustrated and described, it is obvious that those skilled in the art may vary the details of construction and it will be understood that the invention, therefore, is not to be limited to this specific construction or arrangement of parts shown but that they may be widely modified within the invention defined by the claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A reciprocating pump comprising a frame, a cylinder block mounted on said frame, a row of cylinders disposed in said block, pump chambers having inlets and outlets disposed in said block in communication with each of said cylinders, plungers positioned for reciprocating movement in each of said cylinders, plunger driving means, said frame enclosing said driving means, a row of crosshead guides disposed in said frame, said driving means comprising a crosshead body positioned in each of said guides for reciprocating movement therein, a horizontal crosshead plate positioned above each crosshead body and extending beyond, the opposite sides thereof, said plate being positioned above said body so that a vertical plane passing through the extending portions of the plate forms an angle with a vertical plane passing through said row of cylinders, connecting means for detachably connecting the plate to the body, a second crosshead plate connected to the upper end of each of said plungers, and side rods extending through said cylinder block and connected at the opposite ends thereof to said first mentioned and second crosshead plates.

2. A reciprocating pump comprising, a frame, a cylinder block mounted on said frame, a row of cylinders disposed in said block, pump chambers having inlets and outlets disposed in said block in communication with each of said cylinders, plungers positioned for reciprocating movement in each of said cylinders, plunger driving means, said frame enclosing said driving means, a row of crosshead guides disposed in said frame, said driving means comprising a crosshead body positioned in each of said guides for reciprocating movement therein, a horizontal crosshead plate positioned above each crosshead body and extending beyond the opposite sides thereof, said plate being positioned above said body so that a vertical plane passing through the extending portions of the plate forms an angle with a vertical plane passing through said row of cylinders, connecting means extending through said plate and body for detachably connecting the plate to the body, a second crosshead plate connected to the upper end of each of said plungers, and side rods extending through said cylinder block and connected at the opposite ends thereof to said first mentioned and second crosshead plates.

3. The pump of claim 2 wherein said side rods extend through said cylinder block on opposite sides of a cylinder and side rods on the same. side of adjacent cylinders are positioned therebetween equidistant from said adjacent cylinders.

4. The pump of claim 2 wherein said first mentioned and second crosshead plates are in substantial alignment with one another and the angles each plate forms with said vertical plane are equal.

5. The pump of claim 2 wherein said first mentioned and second crosshead plates are of rhomboidal parallelogram shape in plan view.

6. A reciprocating pump comprising a frame, a cylinder block mounted on said frame, a row of cylinders disposed in said block, pump chambers having inlets and outlets disposed in said block in communication with each of said cylinders, plungers positioned for reciprocating movement in each of said cylinders, plunger driving means, said frame enclosing said driving means, a row of crosshead guides disposed in said frame, said driving means comprising a crosshead body positioned in each of said guides for reciprocating movement therein, a horizontal crosshead plate positioned above each crosshead body and extending beyond the opposite sides thereof, said plate being positioned above said body so that a vertical plane passing through the extending portions of the plate forms an angle with a vertical plane passing through said row of cylinders, threaded members extending through said plate and body, locking means adapted to engage the lower end of said threaded members for detachably connecting the plate to the body, a second crosshead plate connected to the upper end of each of said plungers, and side rods extending through said cylinder block and connected at the opposite ends thereof to said first mentioned and second crosshead plates.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 160,207 Knowles Feb. 23, 1875 561,746 Worthington June 9, 1896 901,138 Willis Oct. 13, 1908 1,331,504 Hewitt Feb. 24, 1920 

